Volvo Cars is first carmaker to launch a car without a key

Snapshot: Volvo owners will be offered an application for their mobile phones to replace the physical key with a digital key.

A ground-breaking move by Volvo cars in the automotive industry, where the brand plans to become the world’s first car manufacturer to offer cars without keys from 2017. Volvo owners will be offered an application for their mobile phones to replace the physical key with a digital key. This digital key technology works through Bluetooth and it will provide Volvo owners far more flexibility, enabling them to benefit from entirely new ways to use and share cars.

The customer can use the new Volvo app to do everything a physical key currently does, such as locking or unlocking the doors or the boot and allowing the engine to be started. And thorough this new technology, customers will be offered by the possibility to receive more than one digital key on their app allowing them to access different Volvo cars in different locations – according to their changing mobility needs.

Not only this, by using this app customers can also book and pay for a rental car anywhere in the world and have the digital car key delivered to their phone immediately. The car can be tracked by the customer on arrival just by a click on GPS, unlock it and drive away. This technology simply avoids the frustrating queues at airport or train station car rental desks.

Volvo Cars’ digital key means that sharing a car will become both simple and convenient. Volvo owners will be able to send their digital key to other people via their mobile phones so that they can also use the car, this may be family members, friends or co-workers in a company.

Commenting on their tech, Mr Henrik Green, Vice President, Product Strategy & Vehicle Line Management at Volvo Cars said, “At Volvo we are not interested in technology for the sake of technology. New technology has to make our customers’ lives easier and save them time. Mobility needs are evolving and so are our customers’ expectation to access cars in an uncomplicated way. Our innovative digital key technology has the potential to completely change how a Volvo can be accessed and shared. Instead of sitting idle in a parking lot the entire day, cars could be used more often and efficiently by whoever the owner wishes.”

Adding to this, “There are obviously many permutations when it comes to how this shared key technology can be used. We look forward to seeing how else this technology might be used in the future and we welcome any and all ideas.”

Volvo’s keyless car technology will be shown for the first time at the Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona at the Ericsson booth. Volvo will pilot this technology in spring 2016 via its car sharing firm Sunfleet, stationed at Gothenburg airport, Sweden. And we are expecting this tech to come here for the Indian Volvo customers.